Such packaging with heat shrinkable plastic film is relatively easily done at commercially acceptable speeds by automatic machines. The packages formed are economical, aesthetically pleasing and insure a purchaser that the package has not previously been opened.
Such packages do, however, need a handle to facilitae handling the package. The prior art has attempted to solve this problem by forming a harness around the package or by adhering a handle to it as with a pressure sensitive adhesive, or by cutting slots beside reinforced seam portions of the package after it is heat shrunk around the articles (see French Patent Publication No. 2,136,030). Such attaching of a handle, however, has required an additional operation after the wrapping operation, and such cutting of slots has not provided easy access to the portion of the seam that then provides the handle.